Poor dietary practice and associated factors among type-2 diabetes mellitus patients on follow-up in Nigist Eleni Mohammed Memorial Teaching Hospital, Ethiopia

Introduction: good dietary practice is one of the top pillars of self-care among patients of diabetes mellitus. However, the dietary practice of patients attending health institutions in the study area was not studied. Therefore, the prevalence and associated factors of poor dietary practice were determined among diabetic patients on follow-up in Nigist Eleni Mohammed Memorial Referral and Teaching Hospital, Southern Ethiopia.

Methods: facility-based cross-sectional study design was employed on type-2 diabetes mellitus adult patients. The study was conducted from March to April 2020. Total sample size was 322. Systematic random sampling method was used to select the study respondents. Odds ratio and their 95% confidence intervals together with P-value ≤0.05 were used to identify independent predictors of poor dietary practice during multivariable logistic regression.

Results: the prevalence of the poor dietary practice among type diabetes patients was 53.7% (n=168). Low wealth status AOR 3.34, 95% CI: 1.50-7.41; p-value=0.003 and absence of family and friends support AOR 4.80, 95% CI: 2.54-9.0 and P-value<0.001 were associated factors with poor dietary practice among type-2 diabetes patients.

Conclusion: the overall prevalence of poor dietary practice among type-2 diabetic adult patients was high that not going in line with international recommendations on dietary management of the diabetes mellitus. Integrated governmental and non-governmental activities should be in place to improve the economic status of type-2 diabetic patients. Support from the family members is found to be essential factor to promote dietary practice among type-2 diabetic adult patients.